


Struggling for Last Place

by Paraprosdokia (ChangeableConsistency)



Series: Unconnected Phil Coulson Fics [14]
Category: Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Intrigue, Machiavelli would be proud, Strike Team Delta, There might be some feelings in their too, spies being spies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:53:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23890369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChangeableConsistency/pseuds/Paraprosdokia
Summary: Hawkeye was supposed to take the Widow out, not bring her in.Once again, Phil’s left cleaning up Clint’s mess.It’s a good thing he planned for this possibility.
Relationships: Clint Barton & Phil Coulson & Natasha Romanov
Series: Unconnected Phil Coulson Fics [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1709944
Comments: 11
Kudos: 50





	Struggling for Last Place

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Whether You Fall by Tracy Bonham
> 
> Maybe all eyes are on you  
> As you finish the race  
> And the world sees you struggling  
> For last place
> 
> Whether you fall  
> Means nothing at all  
> It's whether you get up  
> It's whether you get up

“I think I will steal your boyfriend.”

She’s good.

It’s a bland accentless midwestern accent, but her word choice gives her away and Phil answers her in Russian, «He’s not my boyfriend, but you're welcome to try.»

Her eyebrow twitches. Something he’s said or done has landed.

Or more likely, the way he said it. 

He used a dialect from the region she was born in— not the one in her CIA file, or the FSB one, but from old Red Room records.

SHIELD dossiers are thorough. 

Phil’s dossiers doubly so. 

If she recognized the accent, and he would bet his last ruple she did, then she read Phil’s friendly warning: I know everything. 

It’s only fair that he make the first overture. He wants something from her, after all. 

Though not what she thinks he does.

Not yet. 

“You think because he does not fuck you he is not your boyfriend?”

He doesn’t want her body, not for sex, not for death. 

“I think it doesn’t matter who he fucks and that you already knew this line of attack wouldn’t work.”

Something shifts in her expression, there and gone. 

Triumph. It was a flash of triumph. 

There.

That’s what he wants. 

Her mind. 

But first, her loyalty. 

Her soul. 

“My apologies,” he goes over the last thirty seconds, cataloging every detail he’s given away and giving himself a little room in case there’s something he missed, “Perhaps it’s working after all.”

Either way, that’s the right thing to say as she laughs, a charming, cocktail party laugh and she smiles as she says, “Oh, I like you, Agent Phil Coulson of SHIELD. Maybe I should steal you from him.”

“Again, he isn’t my boyfriend,” he smiles blandly, “and, again, you’re welcome to try.”

Her smile is a predator’s grin at the scent of fresh prey and he can see the wheels turning, scenarios and back up plans and back up back up plans. 

God, he wants her. 

“I should warn you, Agent Coulson; I always get my target,” there’s something wild and dangerous in her eyes. 

“I’ve heard that before. And I’ll tell you what I told him: So do I.”

He leaves her with that, the groundwork laid and he knows he’s right.

Right about her, just like he was right about Clint. 

He tamed a half feral ex carnie who sunk an arrow into Phil’s thigh the first time they met; at least Romanov doesn’t use a bow.

He was able to give Clint the one thing he always dreamed of and never thought he could have: a home. 

What Romanov wants is both easier, and impossible, but he can make it real for her. 

He can buy her loyalty with her hope, neither of which she thinks she has; both of which she has in abundance. 

She’s just been lacking the right framework. 

“So,” Clint says, sidling up to Phil as he makes his way from the interrogation rooms to his office, a grape lollipop staining his lips purple, “I’m a forgiven?”

Phil sighs, but throws Clint a bone, “Maybe.”

“Hah! Clay can suck it.”

“I told you to stay away from Quartermain. The two of you are lucky the mess hall needed to be renovated, otherwise the damages would have come out of both your hides. And don’t get too happy, my forgiveness doesn’t mean all that much. You’re still restricted to base until you’re cleared by Psych.”

“Pfft. I have Samson eating out of my hand, and besides, your forgiveness is the only one that matters, and I was right, right? You want to give her the sales pitch, too. You’ve already got her figured out, don’t you?”

“I wouldn’t have sent you after her if I hadn’t. She was too dangerous. She still is. I’m not so sure it wouldn’t be better to feed her a bullet and call it a day.”

“No! No, sir, you can’t.”

“I will if I determine that’s what’s necessary.”

“Phil… Please?”

“You know I don’t take that step lightly. If I can’t convince her I can give her what she needs, I won’t have a choice.”

He knows Clint picks up on the fact that Phil said what he, not SHIELD, could give her and he knows that it will soothe him, knowing that Phil isn’t planning on binding Romanov to SHIELD, but to him personally, something he does with very few agents. 

Only the ones he wants to keep for himself. 

“Can you? Give her what she needs.”

“No. But she doesn’t need to know that.”

Clint looks troubled as he swings the door shut and perches on the arm of the couch.

“Barton,” Phil reprimands him and Clint slides off the arm and onto the couch proper.

“What is it? What’s the thing she wants that you can’t give her?”

Phil debates it, telling Clint, working his way through all the variations on his Widow plans and how he’ll need to adjust them based on what he says, on how Clint’s behavior, and more importantly his interactions with Romanov might change, and the odds shift slightly more in his favor by answering honestly, ”She wants what we all want.”

Clint waits him out and Phil finally smiles sadly.

“Absolution.”


End file.
